Russell Martin out of his depth, ‘special’ star shines – Three things learned vs Club Brugge
Rangers have set themselves up for an uphill battle after losing 3-1 against Club Brugge on Tuesday.
Rangers welcomed Brugge to Ibrox on 19 August in the first leg of their final Champions League qualification run.
Despite getting the better of Viktoria Plzen in the last round, Kris Boyd was left concerned about Club Brugge ahead of their trip to Govan.
How right the former Gers star was as Romeo Vermant opened the scoring just three minutes in, as Nasser Djiga bizarrely left the ball for Jack Butland against Brugge, leaving the Belgian alone to make it 1-0.
Jorne Spileers and Brandon Mechele went on to make it 3-0 after 20 minutes, before Danilo made it 3-1 just five minutes into the second half.
This is ultimately how it stayed in G51 with Ibrox News now analysing the result to see what we learned from the defeat.
Russell Martin is out of his depth at Rangers
It can’t be a surprise that a manager, in Russell Martin, who was recently sacked by Southampton at the bottom of the Premier League, struggled against an experienced European outfit.
Brugge were in the Champions League last season and even reached the round of 16 before being knocked out by Aston Villa.
As a result, Nicky Hayen’s side will have been hugely keen to return to Europe’s top table and used all their experience to almost secure exactly that.
This was partially down to the set-up of Martin’s choosing, with new signing from Brentford, Jayden Meghoma and Max Aarons in the full-back roles being a particular weak point, something that allowed the Pro League side to press high and cause problems for the Light Blues.
The negative side of this was shown by the scoreline with just 20 minutes gone, a learning curve for the ex-Swansea City boss that ultimately cost his side dearly.
Nasser Djiga represents concern for Rangers
Having already been red-carded since signing, while also receiving criticism from Michael Stewart against Alloa, Djiga hasn’t had the greatest start to life in Govan.
This certainly wasn’t helped by another error as the Wolves loanee left the ball for Butland, despite the Englishman being nowhere near reaching it.
This ultimately got the Light Blues off to the worst possible start and sent them on their way to a frustrating defeat against the Belgians.
As a result, a fair portion of the blame has to be placed on Djiga’s shoulders for the result, especially after failing to truly showcase a better performance later in the day.
This is the perfect proof point for Martin to take to Kevin Thelwell and Co. to demand the signing of a new centre-back before the summer window closes.
Hamza Igamane is something special
He may have only featured for 29 minutes at Ibrox, but the Morocco international proved exactly why he has been missed by the Light Blues.
The 22-year-old went on a number of mazy runs, as Igamane so often does, and caused a number of problems for the Club Brugge backline.
This saw Simon Mignolet forced into two saves late in the second half despite not getting on the scoresheet in G51.
Moving deeper into the summer, keeping hold of Igamane has to be seen as a priority, as he could prove to be crucial under Martin moving forward.
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